The procedure and apparatus for casting and tabulating votes in an election have undergone an evolution in most communities over the years. A more recent development which is expected to be widely adopted involves the use of an electronic ballot tabulator whose size is roughly close to that of a standard typewriter. Such a vote tabulator, known as the Optech III, is manufactured by Business Records Corporation, the assignee of the present invention. In general, this tabulator accepts printed ballots that have been marked by the voter, through an inlet slot. It then automatically tabulates the voter's selections within the machine and then ejects the ballot through one of two exit openings in its bottom side. For example, ballots of one category such as write-in or absentee ballots may be ejected through one slot and regular ballots may be ejected through the other slot. Initially, the ejected ballots were collected in cardboard boxes or other makeshift containers. However, in most jurisdictions, regulations were promulgated which required that all ballots be retained in secure containers. Therefore, it was required that voting jurisdictions provide ballot boxes that could collect tabulated ballots of different categories directly from the tabulator machine and maintain them in secure chambers Moreover, it was necessary to provide such ballot boxes that could be easily transportable and also easily storable when not in use.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a ballot box for use with an automatic ballot tabulator or processor that will receive the ballots directly from the tabulator machine and retain them in separate, secure compartments after they have been processed.
Another object of the invention is to provide a ballot box which has a separate compartment that may become accessible to receive ballots temporarily if, for some reason the tabulator machine becomes inoperative.
Another object of the invention is to provide a ballot box that provides a base support for the tabulator machine and is easily movable to different locations.
Other objects of the invention are to provide a ballot box that can be disassembled and nested for storage and also one which is particularly well adapted for ease and economy of manufacture.